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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133034">Love in the Time of Remote Learning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar'>SapphicScholar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love in the Time of COVID-19 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, academia au, covid au, quarantine buddies, the world's on fire but have some fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:34:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,701</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Picking at a thread on the comforter, Alex cleared her throat. “If you wanted, I mean, I don’t know…we could be quarantine buddies?”</p><p>“You and me? Two weeks together?”</p><p>Alex’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. “I didn’t—it doesn’t have to be some big commitment or whatever. I just meant that if you were worried about getting lonely, we’re both gonna—”</p><p>“Danvers, I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love in the Time of COVID-19 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662787</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>320</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love in the Time of Remote Learning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey it's me and I'm back with another academia AU (part of a 2-part series - if you also want the Supercat half, that's part 2, up tonight or tomorrow morning)!</p><p>A/N: This isn’t me making light of a global pandemic; it’s an attempt to salvage something creative out of the clusterfuck that is my university’s last-minute shift to distance learning and all the anxiety provoked by the news cycle.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Anything new?” came a sleepy voice from the other side of the bed.</p><p>Alex’s eyes flickered over to the tangled mess of dark hair just barely visible from beneath the sheets. “More cases. More deaths. More panic.”</p><p>“So the usual,” Maggie sighed, finally blinking her eyes open to watch the news on the hotel’s small television set.</p><p>“Yeah. But it doesn’t look like we’ll have trouble flying back to California yet.”</p><p>“You know we’ll have to self-quarantine for two full weeks, right?” Alex narrowed her eyes. “Okay, fine, yes, the double-doctor knows this,” Maggie huffed. “It’s gonna suck, though.”</p><p>Picking at a thread on the comforter, Alex cleared her throat. “If you wanted, I mean, I don’t know…we could be quarantine buddies?”</p><p>“You and me? Two weeks together?”</p><p>Alex’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. “I didn’t—it doesn’t have to be some big commitment or whatever. I just meant that if you were worried about getting lonely, we’re both gonna—”</p><p>“Danvers, I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Besides, if anyone…I mean, I don’t exactly have a great track record with people wanting to stick around.” She forced out a self-deprecating laugh.</p><p>“Well I guess I’m just a lot smarter than any of those women. I mean, I am a double-doctor…”</p><p>That finally pulled a real laugh from Maggie. “What do you say we turn off the news and help distract each other?”</p><p>Pulling off her t-shirt and rolling on top of Maggie, Alex grinned. “I’d say I’m already one step ahead of you.”</p><p>---</p><p>Back in September, the opportunity to spend a week in Italy (and get paid for it) had sounded like a dream come true. Sure, Alex’s last name and her “family legacy” would get thrown around more than she’d like as Dean Grant paraded her around and introduced her to all the wealthy alums, and she’d have a few official events she’d have to speak at, but Italy was Italy; good wine was good wine; and, as Kara kept reminding her, even better food wasn’t something to be passed up. With all of that in the “pro” column, she’d agreed and found herself on a new email listserv with a handful of other faculty members she’d never met and administrators she’d never wanted to meet who would all be making the trip together.</p><p>As January turned into February, though, there were breaking news headlines that left Alex wary. But Florence didn’t seem to be the epicenter of the outbreak, and apparently it wasn’t in good form to abandon potential donors in another country, so on February 18<sup>th</sup>, they all boarded their flight with travel-sized bottles of hand sanitizer and a dean who looked to be already in the midst of a panic attack.</p><p>Looking back on it, Alex could admit that the food and wine both lived up to their reputations. She could also admit that all the hand-shaking and up-close schmoozing with jet-setting strangers were also terrible ideas.</p><p>It wasn’t until day three of the trip that one of the other faculty members—some tiny brunette who was heading up a new community outreach program at NCU that had apparently brought in all sorts of good press for them—finally said something about it, grabbing Alex and hauling her towards the bathrooms in a break between the panel they’d just been on together and the dinner they were supposed to attend.</p><p>“What’s up?” Alex asked, carefully inserting a bit of distance between them.</p><p>“Alex, right? You’re a scientist.”</p><p>“An astrobiologist,” Alex clarified.</p><p>The woman rolled her eyes. “I can read the program. I just mean—you get that this is a big deal, right? People are dying. We’re putting ourselves and all of these people at risk—and they’re not young!”</p><p>With a quick glance around her to check for any lurking donors—they’d been given specific instructions <em>not</em> to scare them off—Alex nodded. “Yeah…I did suggest cancelling, but it seemed like Grant was getting a lot of pressure from the higher-ups. Apparently we’re getting ready to launch some huge new building project that’s gonna take a lot of capital.”</p><p>“Okay, fine, but things have gotten way worse since we’ve left. So why the fuck are we still here?”</p><p>Alex drummed her fingers against her thigh, debating telling this stranger about the conversation that she’d overheard. “Look, uh, Sawyer was it?”</p><p>“Maggie Sawyer, yeah.”</p><p>“Between you and me, the dean doesn’t want to be here anymore. I don’t think she even wanted to leave in the first place.”</p><p>Maggie’s eyebrows shot up at that. “What?”</p><p>“I overheard her on the phone with her kid. Kept apologizing, telling him that she was trying to convince her boss to bring us back early.”</p><p>“So we’re here because…?”</p><p>“Because Dirk and his little board of trustees don’t actually give a damn about anything but the money, I’d assume.”</p><p>“Oh god. And didn’t he try to get Cat fired for no reason?”</p><p>“Apparently she was the anonymous source who went to the press about the provost.”</p><p>“Wait. You’re telling me Cat was the one who finally got that sleazebag out of here?”</p><p>Alex nodded.</p><p>“Huh. Maybe she’s not so bad. For an admin.”</p><p>Alex grinned. “Just wait til you hear my sister talk about her. You’d think Cat walked on water by the end of it.”</p><p>They’d had to rejoin the group then, but that night Maggie had shown up at Alex’s hotel room door with a bottle of wine and an offer: “Want to get a little drunk while we stress-watch the news together?”</p><p>And really, how could Alex say no to that?</p><p>And somehow drinking had turned into talking, which had turned into a standing invitation for the next few nights.</p><p>And the next night, drinking had turned into eating, and talking had turned into kissing, and they’d woken up naked and half on top of one another, the news still playing quietly in the background.</p><p>And somehow, a one-night stand had turned into a two-nights-and-one-morning stand, and now, apparently, the promise of a two-week-long first date.</p><p>---</p><p>After one of the most stressful travel experiences of Alex’s life, she finally made it back to California and into the backseat of Kara’s waiting car with Maggie, stammering out excuses for why they needed to stop at Maggie’s place for new clothing, then both go back to Alex’s. She steadfastly ignored Kara’s less-than-subtle gestures and knowing glances and Maggie’s whispered questions about why Alex was letting them potentially expose her sister to contagions.</p><p>Eventually, Alex and Maggie were settled in Alex’s apartment, which Kara had generously stocked with enough food to feed a high school football team.</p><p>“So…” Alex trailed off, scuffing her toes along the carpet.</p><p>“This is your place?”</p><p>After a moment’s silence, they both broke down in laughter. “Oh god, this shouldn’t be so awkward,” Alex groaned.</p><p>Straightening her back, Maggie held out her hand. “Maggie Sawyer. Director of the DEI Outreach Initiatives.”</p><p>With a quiet laugh, Alex shook her hand. “Alex Danvers. Professor of Astrobiology.”</p><p>“Well, now that we’ve done formal introductions and seen each other naked, how about we make a late lunch and try to find ways to keep each other awake for a few more hours so we aren’t totally jet-lagged tomorrow?”</p><p>“I think you’ve got yourself a deal.”</p><p>---</p><p>As it turned out, living with Maggie was about a thousand times better than living with any of the random roommates Alex had been stuck with during undergrad and the first year or two of her doctorate program. They had similar taste in television and movies, and their conversations were so easy that Alex found herself opening up, talking about the kinds of things she rarely did with others. But with Maggie it just felt…right. Natural. Like she was the kind of person that Alex could talk to without worrying that she would judge her or hold it against her later. And then there was the sex. And there were definitely no complaints on that front.</p><p>After a blissful few days marred only by the constant paranoia that a cough or sniffle or sneeze brought on, the real world came crashing back down around them in the form of class meetings. It had been easy enough to cancel a day of class to make it to the weekend, but that Saturday Alex had gotten an email from the interim provost—something about the returning faculty being a “test case” for the campus’s ability to adapt to remote learning.</p><p>So on Monday, Maggie helped Alex set up her computer to record a lecture and showed her how to share her screen for the powerpoint that the students would want to see more than her face—“No matter how gorgeous that face is, Danvers,” Maggie had insisted. That had been easy enough. The tricky part came on Tuesday when they both had to teach small, upper-level seminars.</p><p>Maggie was up first with her justice and peace studies seminar. And it was awkward and staticky and not at all what Maggie was used to, but Alex could see her trying to smile through it. She even hummed a few bars of the Brady Bunch theme song and looked horrified when not one student smiled in recognition, grumbling under her breath about feeling old. The class improved slightly from there, but Alex winced in sympathy every time Maggie turned around for the non-existent chalkboard to try to write down a term. And she grimaced at the number of times Maggie had to say, “Are you there? We can’t hear you if you’re talking.” And then there was the moment when a very panicked-looking Maggie looked up at her and whisper-yelled: “I think I ended the whole call! I just wanted to put them in groups!” So…pretty much what Alex had expected.</p><p>Her own class started out better, if only because none of her students were really expecting a joke or a warm welcome that would somehow make a grid of camera shots feel like a personal space; they were expecting Dr. Danvers to talk and be brilliant and manage to get through just as much information as she always did. From there, though, things went downhill. There was the time Alex accidentally ripped her headphones out while trying to quickly lean back for the textbook. There was the close call with the coffee cup while she was trying to balance their gigantic textbook on the edge of her desk and simultaneously point things out with her other hand. And then there was the damn electronic whiteboard alternative that made her already atrocious handwriting completely illegible, and somehow all of her illustrations came out looking vaguely like genitalia or boobs. She gave up on that soon enough and resolved to order a mini whiteboard online.</p><p>“Well…it could’ve gone worse,” Maggie said when Alex finally closed her computer.</p><p>“Yeah, if I cried onscreen maybe.”</p><p>“We’ll get better. C’mon, we can turn it into a game. I’ll even pretend to be your student, and I’m <em>very</em> eager to learn,” she added with an exaggerated wink.</p><p>Alex laughed loudly. “Promise me we’ll never roleplay, and I swear I’ll spend the whole afternoon making you feel good.”</p><p>“How could a woman turn down that offer?”</p><p>---</p><p>Slowly but surely they got used to the awkwardness, and the students grew accustomed to the electronic platforms as more of their courses began transitioning online—Alex had even heard rumblings that the whole university would transition to distance learning when they came back from spring break. They found a rhythm, managing to help one another keep things moving smoothly. Alex played “real live audience” for Maggie, who had trouble keeping her spirits up when all of her students were tiny little squares on mute. And Maggie, in turn, would pull the whiteboard back and erase it for Alex in between examples. They both watched for water cups and coffee mugs getting a bit too close to computers for comfort, and every so often dropped off snacks when things seemed truly dire. As their informal household motto had become: it could be worse.</p><p>So Alex wasn’t exactly expecting anything bad when she got a text from Kara at the end of their first week.</p><p><strong>Kara: </strong>One of my students asked me if you got a girlfriend.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>What? Why? Am I being stalked?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING GOING ON BETWEEN YOU TWO!</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>I was gonna tell you all about it if we survived our quarantine.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>I promise.</p><p><strong>Kara: </strong>Yeah, yeah, I believe you. Still.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> Can we get back to your student?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> OH! Right. So yeah obvi they know we’re sisters, and one of my seniors is roommates with one of your seniors, and she swears she saw some woman strolling around your apartment.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>That kind of proof would never hold up in court.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> But also…it’s totally true.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> I mean, yeah. But since when do courts care about the truth?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> You’ve been listening in on Maggie’s justice and peace studies classes haven’t you?</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>…maybe.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Anyway, your students are v excited about you finally confirming that you’re gay.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> 1. I go to faculty events at the LGBTQ Center. 2. I’ve never hidden it. 3. It’s none of their damn business!</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> 1. You went, like, once. 2. Yeah that’s fair. That haircut isn’t exactly subtle… 3. Okay tell that to baby gay Alex who practically cried when Dr. Friedman mentioned her wife in Intro to Orgo.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> 1, 2, and 3. Fuck off.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Guess I won’t give you any more info I hear from my students…</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>No wait. Come back! I’ll buy you potstickers when I’m out of quarantine!</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> That was pretty much it. I didn’t tell them anything, but they’re very excited. Tho tbh I think your student might be a little heartbroken now that she knows she doesn’t have a chance.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>Ok so then nothing really. For all they know it’s my roommate.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Sure Jan.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong> Did you know none of Maggie’s students have seen the brady bunch?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Didn’t you have a crush on Marsha?</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> Whatever. At least I didn’t have a crush on Carol. Who is totally still your type btw.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> What? Pfft. I don't even know what you're even talking about.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> …what aren’t you telling me?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Still don’t know what you’re talking about</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> You only get this defensive when you have a crush on someone.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Okay time for my classes, since some of us can’t do them in pajama pants from home. Bye!!!</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> KARA! Telllll meeeeee. I could be dying, you know, would you really deprive me of information on my deathbed?</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Don’t joke.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> Sorry.</p><p><strong>Kara:</strong> Good, now focus on how repentant you are and go do your work.</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>Hey!</p><p><strong>Alex: </strong>Kara…</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> I’m bored. Maggie’s stuck on a BlueJeans meeting, and somehow those are even worse than regular meetings.</p><p><strong>Alex:</strong> fine, you’re no fun.</p><p>---</p><p>Alex didn’t give much more thought to the matter. Their lives went on. Their teaching got marginally better. Their relationship progressed by leaps and bounds, despite Kara’s constant U-Haul jokes when Alex admitted that she’d be sad to have Maggie go back to her own apartment at the end of 14 days.</p><p>On day 14, a few hours after the university announced its plan to shift to online-only classes after the break, Maggie choked on her coffee.</p><p>“You okay?” Alex asked, half-afraid that the coughing fit was a sign that Maggie had finally come down with COVID.</p><p>But Maggie waved off Alex’s concern and spun her laptop screen around, gesturing at the screen.</p><p>Alex narrowed her eyes to see, her glasses somewhere in the other room.</p><p>“Overheard at NCU,” read the page’s name.</p><p>“What about it?” Alex asked.</p><p>“Look at the most recent post.”</p><p>Alex skimmed down, finding a screenshot from her class earlier that day. It took her a moment before she spotted Maggie in the background, beaming at her and clutching a pizza in one hand. The caption read simply: “Commencement is cancelled, but quarantine love is REAL.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm on Twitter and Tumblr (occasionally) @sapphicscholar</p><p>Hope you enjoy! And again, there'll be the supercat half of this particular AU world as a part 2 in this series if you're interested (coming tonight or tomorrow morning!)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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